The conventional pipe cutter arranged to cut a pipe while grasping it in a three-point supporting manner includes rotary cutter blades radially adjustable to accommodate the outer diameter of the pipe to be cut, the arrangement being such that the pipe is cut while revolving the cutter blades around the axis of the pipe after it is inserted between and grasped by the cutter blades. Such arrangements are well known.
With prior art pipe cutters in which the cutter blades are caused to revolve around the pipe during the cutting operation, the operator must turn the handle of the cutter around its central axis of rotation, about which the cutter blades are disposed, in order to perform the cutting operation. However, the operation of turning the handle is often interfered with by structures in the vicinity of the piping; for example, as in the case of cutting a portion of piping fixed to or embedded in a wall structure. Further, the prior art pipe cutters had the disadvantage that an unexpectedly great force was required, making it difficult to accomplish the cutting operation in an efficient manner.